Separating device operating by centrifugal force



May 4 1926.

S. KARPINSKYEI AL SEPARATING DEVICE OPERATING BY CENTRIFUGAL FORCE Filed Jan- 1 1924 2 Sheets-Sheet 1.

s, 7% a! eM May 4, 1926.

s, KARPINSKY E AL, SEPARATING DEVICE OPERATING BY CENTRIFUGAL FORCE Filed Jan. 16, 1924- 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Patented May 4, 1926. I

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

STEPHAN KARPINSKY, OF SEVRES, AND JAMES STEWART ANDERSON, OF ST. OUEN, FRANCE.

SEPARATING DEVICE OPERATING BY CENTRIFUGAL FORCE.

Application filed January 16, 1924. Serial No. 686,685.

To all whom it may concern:

' Be it known that we, STEPHAN KAnrnr SKY, a Russian citizen, and residing at Sevres -(Seine and Oise Department), No. 40 Rue Brancas, in the Republic of France, and JAMES STEWART ANDERSON, a subject of the Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland,

This invention relates to an apparatus employing centrifugal force for the separation of a. liquid product of a complex na ture into its component parts of difl'erent specific gravity. The known devices of this class, such as are used for instance for" separating cream from milk and are operated at a constant output, and chiefly. apparatus which are not supplied on the suction prin ciple, ofifer a serious inconvenience from the.

fact that their separating capacity is much affected by the speed variations of the separating container ,or like element.

Accordin to our invention, the container is rotated y a suitable turbine which is actuated by the liquid under treatment,'this diately afterward, the middle edge willalso being discharged at a constant or nearly constant pressure, and the said liquid when issuing from the turbine chamber is collected and led directly into the said container, so that the output of the latter is the same as the feed to the turbine inlet. In these conditions, the output of the con-' tainer and its rate of rotation will both depend upon a givenjunction}; (the square root) of the ressure, and willha've an exactly proportional relation, so that the speed variations will have no appreciable effect upon the conditions of separation of the products.

By the use of a suitable turbine which is driven by the liquid under treatment before the latter isadmitted to the separating vessel, we are further enabled to employ high speeds of rotation and'hence a large output for an apparatus of small size, and also of simple construction andupkeep by reason of the'abs'ence of gearing.

Our experiencehas shown that by the use of a 'relativel'ylow pressure and a turbine of small diameter (e. g'. 40 millimetres), we

can operate at very high speeds such as 20,000 revolutions per minute.

For this purpose we employ a turbine ot' the tangential wheel type, with blades resembling those of the Pelton wheel but differing therefrom in certain particulars and chiefly by a special configuration of the end of the blades whereby the latter areprevented from all impact upon the rear sur-. face of the stream of liquid when in the adjacent position, the stream being placed so as to imping upon each blade in a direction substantially parallel to its longitudinal axis during the major part of the operative period.

The cross-section of each blade has the shape of adouble U, and the thin stream of liquid is caused to impinge without shock upon the middle pro ecting edge of the blade, and it is thus divided by the said edge into two streams which flow in symmetrical disposition towardsthe outer edges of the blade and upon the two curved surfaces of the latter. The blade has at the end a trans verse cutting portion extending forwardly in the oblique direction somewhat. beyond the middle edge so that at the instant in which it comes adjacent the stream it will receive the latter without any prejudicial shock upon-its internal surface, and immoreceive the stream without shocks and will subdivide the latter. In these conditions the mechanical efiiciency of the turbine becomes very high, and the composition of the milk is not altered by its passage through the turbine wheel; in particular, due to the ab- .sence of shocks and fatty particles will not view of the turbine wheel, with two 0 the blades in section on the lines A-A. and

B-B of Fig. 4.

'3 a circular case 4 adapted to contain the turbine wheel 5. The separating vessel which has preferably a tubular shape-and the turbine wheel are secured to a common vertical'shaft 6 which is guided and'maintained at the top by a bearing 8 (Fig. 8) mounted upon the cover 7 of the said case. The feeding nozzle 16 is disposed at the bottom of the separating vessel and is centered in an elastic bearing whose particular construction is known per se.

The milk under pressure is admitted through a removable conduit 9, 10, 11 into a nozzle 12 which causes the milk to impinge in the tangential direction upon the turbine wheel according to the line X-X. The milk collected in the case 4 when issuing from the wheel 5 vwill flow out of the said case through the lateral outlet 13 which is connected by a conduit-14 with a conduit 15 provided in the bottom of the main frame and communicating by an aperture 16 with the feeding nozzle in this manner the milk is fed into the separating vessel whereof the interior may be arranged in any suitable manner and is therefore not shown. 17, 18, 19 are superposed chambers for separately collecting the liquid substances of different densities which are discharged from the separating vessel.

The turbine wheel compris a disc which is notched at the peripher? in order to receive the blades 20 of special shape; each blade has on its operative surface two semi-cylindrical recesses 21 separated by a horizontal ridge 22 and bounded by the vertical faces 23, 24 which are oblique with reference to the ridge 22. The end of the blade forms a cutting portion 25, and its outer surface 26, opposite the inclined face 23, has therein a notch 27 whose inner part makes an acute angle with the radius passing through the centre line of the wheel and the edge a of the cutting portion 25; the

, said notch serves for the free passage of the liquid stream under pressure, up to the instant at which the stream is met with by the edge of'the said cutting portion, so that the stream can never impinge upon the outer.-

. surface of a given blade, and will effectively strike the preceding blade for the maximum length of time. I It should be observed that the stream only meets the cutting portion 25 during the very short instant required for 4 the part a b' to traverse the small width of the stream, so that the loss. of energy cor-' responding to the oblique direction of the stream upon the said cutting portion will be ne ligible; in fact, as soon as the starting point I) of the ridge 22 attains the liquid stream, the latter becomes subdivided and moves tangentially over the two curved surfaces on either side of the said ridge.

By reason of the velocity which is imparted to the blades by the pressure of the liquid and is about equal to one-half the speed of the jet, the escaping liquid will have a relativelyesmall absolute speed; but this will however be sufficient to "maintain the gymtory motion of the mass of liquidcollected in the circular case '4 and to produce a cer tain hydrostatic pressure. 'The liquid which and the conduits 14, 15 and into the vessel 2 will thus remain under a certain pressure and is also charged with a portion of the air which was dissolved therein during its passage through the compressor, so that it will enter the separating vessel with a reduced viscosity which furthers the separation.

The said apparatus is cleaned in a very simple manner, for it suflices to send hot water through the whole devicebefore and after operatin with the milk; the water can be evacuated sion of the conduit 15 which is normally closed by a plug 47. It only remains to remove the solid particles which adhere to the interior of the separating vessel after the operation. The bearing 8 herein represented consists of a set of three superposed steel washers 28, 29, 30 disposed in a case-31 which is mounted in a second case 32 which is secured to the cover 7 and is closed by a cover for instance through an exten-.

33; the three washers are pressed together meter of the washer 29 is' smaller than that of the washers 28 and 30, so that the device forms a cage for a circular row of balls 36; in the latter is centered a socket 37. secured to the shaft 6 by a nut 38 and having a conica enlargement 39 resting upon the balls. The said ball-bearing is of an easy and economical construction, since the three washers can be punched and rectified in the most simple manner; on the other hand, the parts of the bearing can be very conveniently assembled or dismantled. The lubrication, which is very important in the case of high speed turbines, is assured in the best possible manner by the use of an oil cup 40 from which the oil flowsat a slow rate into the annular space between the Washer 30 and the socket 37, oiling the balls and issuing thence through a radial groove 41 in the washer 29, a verticalgroove 42 in the washer 28 anda 3 conduit 43 at the end of the box 31; the oil passes thence through a conduit 44 into the filter 45 from which it is discharged in' the purified state into a removable tank 46, and in this manner the oil. can be supplied at any time to the oil cup 40.

We claim.

In a centrifugal separating device for complex liquid products, the combination of a rotating separator for the treatment of the complex liquid in the usual manner, a

turbine with blades acted upon by the as yet untreated liquid under pressure, the said turbine and the said separator being directly 7 coupled together, and means whereby the 15 liquid is enabled to flow from said turbine into the said separator. a

In testimony, that we claim the foregoing as our invention we have signed our names.

STEPHAN KARPINSKY. JAMES STEWART ANDERSON. 

